Apparently the good people Jon Peddie Research didn't get the memo; if you want to learn about the state and health of PC gaming, the first source you turn to is fanboys on forums with their hearsay. Thats also the last source...really sort of making it the only source. But alas, not everyone can handle all of the wisdom that come out of those parts.

The research, which will set you back $12,000 if you want to see it all, concludes that there are three types of gaming PCs on the market. And between Q3 2005 to present, there have been 196 million of these kinds of PCs sold to consumers. Granted that it's not quite a fair comparison, but in the same period of time, there were only 74.7 million units of all three of the newest consoles sold combined. That's right: PC gamers more double console gamers worldwide.

Game consoles, especially the vaunted Wii, have captured the imagination of game developers, pundits, and the channel. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you console games and consoles are way, like WAY bigger market than that lowly PC gaming market. Hmmm, always be cautious of the common wisdom.

Blizzard has announced that the expansion to its mega-hit MMORPG World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, has sold more than 2.8 million units in a span of 24 hours. This is actually better than their previous expansion, Burning Crusade, which only managed a mere 2.4 million units in the first 24 hours.

It's confirmed; PC gaming is dead. I welcome our new overlords at Sony, Microsoft, and Nntendo.

On this, Half-Life's 10th birthday, Valve pleases everyone who doesn't already own this masterpiece by dropping the price to 1/10 of the original, making the game a mere $0.98 right now, hit Steam or use Steampowered.com to get this game if you don't already have it.

This deal ends tomorrow (Friday) at 3pm EST.

Remember when Age of Conan was a showcase for DX10? It seems like ages ago and the game ended up shipping without. But if you're still playing, and you have capable hardware, the next content update will feature DX10 support!  Craig Morrison, the director of the game, confirmed it in his November update blog post.

We are now preparing to take the DirectX 10 version of the game from our internal testing servers out to the public test servers, so you can see it for yourselves. The next major game update will include this version of the game and make it available for everyone with the appropriate hardware to enjoy. Since the outset we have been determined that the new DirectX 10 functionality would not just be a ‘gimmick’ addition to the game and would add visual quality to the game, we feel that the version we are preparing now for testing does achieve this and in a way that will find the right balance between visuals and performance.

What else can you expect in the next update?

Grant Theft Auto IV was supposed to have hit PCs just by now. However, in October, rumors started swirling that the game had been delayed to December 2nd. We all took those rumors as fact, but finally Rockstar has stepped in to clear up any lingering doubts. The game was not delayed to December 2nd- we were just being silly believing Gamestop. Obviously the game's not on shelves this minute, so when can you buy it?

December 3rd. Thank God Rockstar intervened, otherwise panic would've ensued.

Edit by Cryptecks:

Didn't think this warranted a new post, so I'll say it here.  If you look in Steam you will see that the game is coming out via the Steam platform now as well, dispelling rumors that the game would be G4WL-exclusive.  If you are like me and love Steam with all your being, GTA4 will be available on your platform of choice!

Gameindustry.biz is reporting that, at least from first week sales, Call of Duty: World at War is selling faster than its predecessor, Call of Duty 4. But it's not just selling a bit faster, it's doubled the rate in which CoD4 sold. While Chart Track doesn't provide numbers for each individual platform, as a single title it managed to capture 25% of Britains game software sales last week.

This comes as a bit of a shock here at De-Frag because, as we noted in one of our recent podcasts, the multiplayer beta provided by Activision came off as rather underwhelming. But apparently the masses have spoken- CoD: WaW looks to be a sales success.

A quick last minute update before the game goes live in under 3 hours. Valve have now just released a package deal that allows their customers to purchase 4 copies of Left 4 Dead for $150, essentially one free. A great deal for those out there with a group of friends that have yet to purchase the game. Though I can't help thinking they left it a little late...

Left 4 Dead will be available to play in under 3 hours, at 5:00 AM GMT

Well here's something that caught me slightly off guard. Rumours are already flying around that the upcoming Prince of Persia will have DLC somewhere in the future, a first for the game series.

Remember how there was a massive cry of outrage when things were cut from the retail version of Warhammer Online before release? Well fret no more, because next month sees the first content update for Warhammer Online.

EA today released a massive 30 question Q&A about everyone's favourite (except mine) upcoming life simulator. Topics include the new personality system, if things from previous games are transferable, and any possible online plans. Read on for the full thing.

Bored? Exhausted the Left 4 Dead demo and need something to preoccupy yourself for the next few days until it becomes playable? Well you can pick up a copy of Overlord for only $9.99 this weekend! Having played it before I can say it's quite a fun game, and I'm definately picking it up at this price.

Remember it's a one time deal this weekend. Don't miss your chance to push around those scrawny goblins, kill some sheep!

We're less than a month away from the release of Prince of Persia (21 days infact... yes I counted) and Ubisoft are really beginning to amp up the hype with the release of two new videos.

The first is another video focusing on a boss, this time showcasing the Alchemist. Certainly a shift in design from the previous two.

If you've been playing the demo lately (and why wouldn't you?) you'll know that each campaign in Left 4 Dead has its own movie style poster complete with corny tag line and everything! Today Valve have officially released them for your public viewing, check the other three out below.

You know, if you pre-ordered that is. Yes, the newest FPS from Valve is finally ready to preload on Steam so you have it as soon as it is unlocked come release day. Now to start your preload simply right-click on the game in your My Games list and click on "View preload info" and begin preloading! Note: It's going to take a while.

This is one of those news stories that I wish could quietly go away, but alas, it needs to be said. 2D Boy developer Ron Carmel has claimed that their most recent game, World of Goo, has a 90% piracy rate on the PC (it's also available on Wiiware). It was originally spotted in a comment on RockPaperShotgun, which was spotted by Joystiq and then proliferated elsewhere.

However, since then, Ron posted on 2D Boy's blog how they came to the figure 90%. Here's how.

the game allows players to have their high scores reported to our server (it’s an optional checkbox).  we record each score and the IP from which it came.  we divided the total number of sales we had from all sources by the total number of unique IPs in our database, and came up with about 0.1.  that’s how we came up with 90%.

While he admits that this isn't exactly scientific, it's a reasonable guestimate based off the stats available. However, the developer still believes that most people who pirate games would've never bought them anyway, citing the game Ricochet Inifinity, which featured DRM and had a similar piracy rate. World of Goo does not have any form of DRM.